


Cloak And Wolf

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek, Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe- Werewolves are still a thing, BAMF Stiles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, Familiars, Ferrets, Getting Together, Good Alpha Derek Hale, M/M, Magic, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Pack Dynamics, Pack Politics, Protective Derek, Protective Stiles, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Wiccan Stiles Stilinski, sterekalphaemissary, sterekweek2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 07:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12502164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: If someone were to ask Derek who he would choose as an emissary, the first person to come to mind likely wouldn't be a near stranger who sometimes used his woods for Wiccan prayers, likewise, if anyone were to ask Stiles if he was ever going to find an Alpha, he probably would reply with sarcasm and the skittish wolf in the woods who had trouble with communication probably wouldn't even be on his mind....And yet...





	Cloak And Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> First fic of Sterek Week 2017!! Believe it or not, this was supposed to be very different, and very short and sweet... look how much THAT didn't happen

All that anyone could see this far into the woods, if they bothered to look, was a red-cloak and a small, soft, lantern light

Not that anyone ever really came this deep into the woods, especially on a dark, October night like this one...

Well, no one except for the man in the cloak that is

He took in a deep breath, glad to see the cabin just a few more yards ahead

He lifted his lantern a little bit higher, steeling himself as he walked closer, snapping his fingers and watching the door swing open in front of him

The cabin was warm and inviting as it always was, but there was an uncomfortable air around it too, an air of fear and tension around the space

"Don't worry little pups," he said gently, voice strong and steady

"I promise, all of this will be over soon, now..... where's my staff?"

 

**Two months earlier**

He couldn't believe he was doing this

He had volunteered to go apartment hunting, THAT wasn't the problem, the problem was who his freind had decided to bring along with them

"You'll be fine Stiles, she isn't going to kill you,"

Stiles gave her a sharp stare, disbeleif written all over his face

Stiles was prepared to believe that Natalie Martin _wasn't_ going to kill him the same day that he was prepared to believe that Area 51 _wasn't_ hiding aliens

IE: Never

"Yeah, you say that now, but you seem to have magically forgotten last Christmas Eve,"

Lydia rolled her eyes, shaking her head slowly

"She did not put lobster in the macaroni and cheese because she knew you were allergic to sea food Stiles, she just makes it that way, she gave it to everyone,"

"Oh BULL!!! She's known I'm allergic to seafood for six years, ever since I threw up in your coat closet during your seventeenth birthday party! No one can possibly forget an incident that lead to a Louis Vuitton purse getting thrown up on!"

Lydia looked like she was about to pull her hair out.... or pull Stiles' hair out

"She is not going to kill you, now she's coming back so SHUT. UP."

Stiles wanted to argue- he wanted so _badly_ to argue, but she had a point, he didn't want Natalie to hear that he knew she was plotting to kill him, that would just make her more carefull about it and make his life harder

He hated that he had gotten stuck like this

What had been meant to be a trip between he and Lydia to search for Lydia's new apartment had turned into a painfull mother/daughter trip that Stiles had unwittingly tagged along with

Lydia had insisted he stay, despite how badly he wanted to leave when he initially found out her mother was coming along, she said it would "give them a chance to get to know eachother"

They had known eachoher since Lydia was in middle school and her mother had hated Stiles since day one

He doubted a few hours in a car together looking at apartments would change that, and so far, he was right

They had been in this blasted mess for four hours and he was getting to the point of wanting to gnaw his arm off just so he could get away from it

But, luckily, they just had one more building...

Just ONE more building .... he could do that

...

Atleast, back when it was _still_ just one more building, that is

"Uhhhh..... why are we turning here? Shouldn't we be going down to Maple Street before we turn?" Stiles asked anxiously

"We will, we will, but first I need to stop here, Lydia, do you remember Mrs. Gutierezz? You went to her neice's quinceanera a couple of years ago?"

"I... think so?"

"Well it turns out, her daughter is moving to Miniappilous, meaning that the apartment will be free in a couple of weeks, I was thinking it might be a good idea to pay Mrs. Gutierezz a visit and see if you could look at the place, maybe talk about putting a down payment on the deposit or something, you know, if you like it ofcourse,"

Lydia didn't look exactly thrilled, and Stiles wasn't entirely sure if that was because she knew the apartment and wasn't fond of it, or if it was because she didn't like the idea of getting an apartment through her mother's freind, but either way, she didn't seem to be very happy

"Come on, it's just one little pit stop," she insisted

And, because it was her mother- and Stiles understood that- Lydia gave a slow nod and reluctantly opened the car door

Stiles, admittedly, didn't recognize where they were, but then he _was_ in the backseat and couldn't see that much, just out his window mostly, and the window was at an awkward angle so...

He sighed, unbuckling his seatbelt and sliding out of the car, nudging the door shut behind him ... and feeling a sudden sense of dread as he looked up at where Lydia and her mother were heading

"You have got to be kidding me," he said slowly

A church

She had brought him to a church

This woman _was_ trying to kill him

Or atleast vex him enough to get him away from her daughter for the rest of eternity...

"Lydia is she serious!?" he hissed, glad that his freind's mother had already started up the steps to go inside

"It's just for a few minutes Stiles, you aren't going to burst into flames, just... take a breath and endure it, you'll be _fine_ , it isn't going to hurt you, and once today is over, I promise, I'll sit through whatever superhero movie you want, and I won't even complain about the bad science.... mostly,"

On most occasions, Stiles would take her up on that offer, but this was just a step too far

"Alright, just... let me take a second to breathe ok? I'll meet you in there,"

Lydia gave him a - rather justified- skeptical look, but turned and walked away just like he hoped she would

The second she was gone, Stiles bolted into the woods

He knew it was probably, by all means, a bad idea- and maybe something of an overreaction- but he was desperate and impulsive and no one said he had been thinking clearly

He got about half-way through before he finally came to the conclusion that no one was chasing him- and no one was GOING to chase him- so he might as well just walk

The woods were peacefull and quiet, they brought an immediate sense of relaxation back to him after that initial sense of panic and he loved them for that, no matter how hard they were to navigate or how many mosquitoes were trying to snack on his blood- he had spells he could do to get rid of the welts later anyhow

The only real problem now was.... figuring out how the hell to get home...

He couldn't exactly go back the way he had come, even if he could figure out how to get there, it would be counterproductive

Lydia was certainly going to be outside looking for him, if she wasn't already, and although he knew she wasn't going to come all the way through the woods looking for him- or even, likely, step into the woods at all- he didn't think it was a good idea to see her again until he could properly apologize and make it up to her

With chocolate

And shoe shopping

And a new purse

It was really the least he could do

Oh well, if he just kept walking he would eventually come to the exit of the woods and back out to- hopefully- some sort of road or path, right?

"What are you doing here? This is private property,"

Stiles jerked his head up, mouth falling open slightly as a wave of dread washed over him

The man standing in front of him was tall, dark haired, with a partly full beard and beautifull green-hazel eyes...

And he didn't look the least bit pleased

"Oh um... sorry, I didn't know... you can't own these entire woods though can you?"

That wasn't even POSSIBLE right?

"No, but my house is just a few yards from here,"

Somebody had a house this far out in the woods?

That was....

_Really freaking cool_

"Right.... well, um, sorry? But I'll be on my way if you can just tell me the quickest way out of these woods that _doesn't_ take me back to Windy Road,"

"That's the only way back, sorry,"

"What? No no no no, no, there has GOT to be another way out of the woods ok? There _has_ to be,"

"There isn't,"

"No, c'mon man, please? I can't go back that way alright? I'm trying to get away from somebody,"

That seemed to bring a sense of... calm? Pity? Something like that, to him now, and with a heavy sigh, the man started leading him away

Atleast, he assumed that's what he was doing, he had just started walking off and sighing so Stiles decided to follow him

"Thanks for this, I really appreciate it,"

The guy just grunted, obviously not happy with the arrangement, but hey, Stiles never asked him to lead him anywhere

"Who are you running from?" he asked suddenly, perking Stiles' interest a bit as the witch caught up to him

"Oh um, my freind and her mom,"

The stranger paused, giving Stiles an irritated look

"But it isn't playfull! I mean... look, this is gonna sound weird but .. they wanted me to go to church- well, IN a church- and that's fine if that's your cup of tea and all but I'm..."

"A demon?"

Well that was a weird thing to assume but Stiles could sort of see how he would get there

"Wiccan, and churches kinda make me uncomfortable, most organized religion .. places.. do, honestly, I don't even attend Wiccan churches, and it's not a Wicca thing- because, I mean, hello, Wiccan churches- but it's just a me thing and Natalie KNOWS how uncomfortable I get and she tried to make me anyway and I just-"

"Breathe,"

Stiles didn't know why but.... he did exactly as the stranger said, taking a deep, solid breath and letting it out slowly

He felt a little bit more relaxed after that, not a ton, but... enough

"Good.... I get it, you don't need to explain it to me, I get that way too if I'm being honest,"

"Seriously?" Stiles asked with a slight perk of happiness

"Wiccan?" he guessed a second later, it was sort of a natural leap to make

"Not... formally, I prefer to think of myself as spiritual rather than religious,"

"Oh, that's cool too, I mean, I'm kinda broad in my own beleifs you know? I just .. I feel more in tune with the term Wiccan so-"

"You really, really don't have to explain," the stranger assured him with a soft smile, the first soft look he had gotten from the guy since meeting him

That... somehow, that kind of put Stiles at ease a little

He was used to having to explain everything to people, everyone always questioning this and questioning that, it was nice to have someone just not pick him apart about it

"Thanks, I appreciate that,"

The stranger gave a polite shrug as they walked, seeming honestly nonplused about it

"I'm Stiles," the Wiccan said suddenly, feeling that, at this point, an introduction was in order

The stranger seemed slightly hesitant, but eventually relented

"Derek,"

"Oh wow, that's a really nice name,"

This caught the other man- _Derek_ \- by surprise, if the look on his face said anything, and prompted him to actually turn and look at Stiles

"It.. it is?"

"Yeah, it absolutely is! Have you not ever looked up the meaning of your name?"

"No...?"

"Really? Well that's a shame, it means Gifted Ruler, wich is a pretty good name for an Alpha to have,"

Derek paused, looking down at him with startled concern, clearly distressed by the sudden mention of his status

"Oh, don't worry dude, I'm a witch- and an emissary-, it's cool,"

That certainly seemed to relax Derek a fair amount, given the way his shoulders sunk down and the distinctive rise and fall of his chest, clearly taking a relieved breath

"So... what does your name mean?" he asked suddenly, catching Stiles off guard as he jerked his head up, eyes wide in surprise

Not only was Derek actually continuing a conversation that he could have easily left dead, but he was asking Stiles about _himself_!

That was practically unheard of, especially for strangers

"Oh, um, well... actually, as sucky as this is, 'Stiles' doesn't actually have a meaning, seriously, you Google 'meaning of the name Stiles' and you get 'The meaning of the name Stiles is Stiles', it sucks,"

"Really? That's... unfortunate...."

"Yeah... but uh, on the bright side, atleast that's really just a nickname, my real name is a Polish nightmare but it means 'Glory Sword', so atleast that's pretty neat,"

"Especially for an emissary, I would imagine,"

Stiles absolutely lit up at that, his eyes bright with happiness and excitement, heart fluttering slightly

"Yeah... yeah it is,"

The emissary actually found his heart sinking when they arrived at the edge of the woods, right on the corner of the preserve, only a few yards away from the main road

He had really wanted to spend a little bit more time talking to Derek, especially because Derek actually seemed to enjoy talking to him

Or, atleast, he tolerated it, wich was still more than Stiles could say for most people

"I um... I guess this is it then, thanks for leading me back, it's just a shame the woods are private property, you know? It'd be a nice place to do some rituals, some prayers, that sorta thing, but I get it, you know, it's your place, I won't come back and disturb you, promise,"

"You don't ... have to, I mean... you don't have to .. not come back,"

Stiles paused, eyebrows raising in surprise as he stared at the werewolf by his side

Was that an invitation?

What happened to the growly, snarly, "This is private property" guy from only moments ago?

Stiles didn't know, but he sure as HELL wasn't about to ask

"Really? You mean it?"

Derek just nodded slowly, looking incredibly shy as he ducked his head and started turning pink in the cheeks

"Yeah, I mean... you're not bothering anyone by just... being out there and .. doing your Wiccan stuff... so..."

"Well... thank you, I appreciate that," Stiles said with a gentle smile, reluctantly stepping out of the woods, now officially over the line that separated the woods from the preserve, and turned to wave at the werewolf

"I'll see you around Derek,"

Derek gave a small nod of agreement- or atleast, Stiles assumed it was agreement- before turning and retreating back into the woods

He gave a quiet, almost melancholy sigh, shoulders sagging and finally turning back towards the road

It was going to take him no less than an hour to get to the sheriff's station where, hopefully, someone could give him a ride back home...

 

~+~

 

Admittedly, Derek hadn't been expecting to ever see Stiles again

Alot of people commented about doing things in nature and never ended up doing them, be it hiking or camping or... whatever

He had worried himself sick in the past thinking about people who had sworn they were going to be back in the woods for whatever given thing only for them to never show up again

So when he went outside and heard someone talking- heard another heartbeat, picked up on the scent of incense- the alarm bells kind of went off in his head

He didn't hesitate, rushing off into the woods to find the culprit who was disturbing his peacefull forest, only to stumble upon Stiles, sitting on the ground with a little circle of stones and plants in front of him, a few crystals laid out, and a few sticks of incense burning

Apparently though, the emissary had heard him approach, and opened his eyes, turning to look at Derek over his shoulder

"Oh hey,"

"Um... hey..." Derek repeated slowly, pursing his lips and wrinkling his nose

The smell of the incense was burning his sinuses, but he was too busy being puzzled over Stiles' presence to notice it much beyond a small irritation

"Um... everything ok? You said I could do my thing here so...."

"And I meant it," Derek clarified, blinking back to awareness and hurrying to correct the oncoming misunderstanding

"I just... am surprised to see you, that's all, most people who talk about coming into the woods for something just end up... not doing it, especially so quickly..."

He had just met Stiles a few days ago, actually

"Oh.... well, yeah, I was serious about this, we don't have much wooded area in my neighborhood so doing outdoor rituals isn't that great around where I live, thus, I will be making very good use of your woods and your invitation, for as long as it stands,"

"It stands," Derek said slowly, hanging his head and biting his lip a little nervously

He wasn't quite sure what to do at this point, he had come out here expecting to run off an intruder, not accidentally interrupt someone's spiritual practices

To say he was feeling a little awkward about it all was putting it mildly....

"Sit down," Stiles said suddenly, grabbing the wolf's attention again

"Um.... what?"

"You look like you want to join me, or maybe you just aren't totally sure what you want to do, but in either case, a little meditation might help, so sit down, close your eyes, and breathe with me,"

If it was any other time, any other person, any other anything.... Derek would have flatly said "No", turned around, and walked away

But for some reason that he honestly still didn't understand, he actually sat down, crossing his legs and glancing at Stiles for instructions

"Good," Stiles said with a small nod, allowing his eyes to shut and taking a slow, deep breath

"Now, just close your eyes.... and _breathe_...."

 

~+~

 

Stiles had a new freind

And his new freind was Derek Hale

After the initial meditation session the two had shared, Stiles had been rather surprised to find that Derek, apparently, wanted to join him a second time...

And then a third....

And then a fourth

It was still a very quiet thing, what they were developing, it was soft and kind of fragile, based on meditation and breathing and connecting with nature

It was weird how much Stiles felt like he really knew Derek, despite how little they had actually talked to eachother

But that was one thing he loved probably more than anything else regarding Wicca- and being an emissary too- it was so much easier to connect with people on a basic, spiritual level, one that didn't require much in the way of verbal or physical communication

Not that Stiles didn't LOVE talking- he did- and most kinds of physical communication too, but there was a pureness to a more spiritual connection that didn't leave room for miscommunication the way talking did

(Physical miscommunications happened too, although admittedly less often than with words)

But none of that was the point, the point was that they were now officially close enough that Stiles was kind of considering Derek a freind

An actual freind and not just an acquaintance

But still, their's was a quiet freindship, Derek wasn't an especially social person, and he was actually still kind of skittish when it came to anything beyond just sitting in the woods and meditating for a wile

Stiles was still working on the "Hold a conversation that lasts longer than five minutes" thing, wich is why he was a little surprised when Derek approached him to.. talk, presumably

Not in the woods

Out in public

In a grocery store

(He had almost wondered if Derek even _bought_ groceries with how much time he seemed to spend in the woods)

"Is that even enough for one dinner?"

Stiles jumped, squawking slightly and spinning around on his heel to stare at the werewolf behind him- well, in front of him now, he supposed

"Derek! Hey! What are you doing here?"

Derek raised an eyebrow neatly, head tilting slightly to the side as he crossed his arms over his chest

"Buying food...?"

Stiles blinked, glancing down at the wolf's basket and suddenly feeling rather stupid for asking that

"Right, um... anyway, these aren't for me, they're for my ferret," he explained, setting the tiny bag of green beans in his cart

Derek's other eyebrow raised this time, both sitting higher on his head like a couple of surprised caterpillars

 _"Ferret?"_ the werewolf asked slowly

"Yeah, Buffy, my ferret, this girl at the New Age shop was giving them away a couple of years ago because her's had had babies and I just couldn't resist, my dad was NOT. HAPPY.- I mean he was only begrudgingly ok with me finally getting a dog, the ferret REALLY drove him nuts, but I decided to tie some of my magic to her- kind of like a familiar- so he kind of _had_ to be ok with it, kind of like what happened with Willow- my dog- she was supposed to be a police dog but she got really, REALLY hurt during training when she was a puppy, they thought she was gonna die but my dad called me up and I healed her- had to use _alot_ of magic though, like, alot alot, the little tyke really drained me out, so we were both kinda sick for a wile and recovered together and now we're inseparable so he just had to get used to the fact that she wasn't going anywhere, but he said if I magically tied myself to _one_ more animal he was going to kick _all_ of us out so..."

Derek.... looked like he wasn't quite sure what to do with all of that information

And reasonably so, Stiles had given him alot to chew on, but he just didn't get a chance to talk about his magic that much- or even talk much in general- and he sort of... couldn't quite help it

"So.... do you have a cat named Xander too?" Derek asked after a moment, bringing a bright grin to Stiles' face

"Nope, honestly I never actually liked Xander that much, he really got on my nerves,"

"I see," Derek nodded, head tilting again as he glanced down in Stiles' shopping cart

"Why do you have two bags of green beans?"

"Well, the first one is for Buffy, because she likes them as treats- so she eats them raw, but the second bag I need to cook for my dad and Willow, but if I don't separate them right away I'll forget to pull out some for Buffy and just steam all of them and then Buffy gets mad at me,"

Derek snorted, looking amused and a little bewildered

"But you don't eat them yourself,"

"Right, yeah, I hate them, but they're healthy so I make my dad and my pets eat them- I mean, I say 'make', but again, Buffy loves them! And Willow likes them too, Dad..... not so much,"

Derek shook his head fondly, reaching above Stiles to grab a pack of baby carrots and toss it in his cart

"Oh you think _that's_ funny? The girl who has Buffy's mom? Her ferret is addicted to lollipops,"

Derek paused, his hand wrapped around a stalk of romain as he turned his head to stare at Stiles again

_"Lollipops?"_

_"Addicted,"_ Stiles repeated

"Sasha said one time she woke up to her husband screaming, went downstairs and found Uhura- their ferret- had climbed all the way to the very top of the top cabinet where they kept the lollipops and gotten into them, she ate the ENTIRE jar, the counter was just littered with wrappers and sticks and the ferret was laying there nomming on the last one, there are pictures of the damage, it's a real sight,"

Derek ... stared

He just.... he just _stared_ because that was _all he could do_

"What am I even supposed to do with that story?" he asked with a slight laugh, tossing the lettuce into his cart

"Enjoy it?" Stiles replied with a smirk, moving on to the peppers and shifting a little bit as he tried to remember how many he needed for what he was making tonight

"I guess I could," Derek teased, glancing down and watching as Stiles grabbed a few bell peppers to put in the little plastic baggie he was holding

"So um.... you cook, right? I mean... do you ... cook alot?"

"Eh... yeah, a fair amount, I mean I'm no professional or anything by ANY stretch but I cook dinner almost every night so I guess you could say that I cook, why?"

"Do you know how to make pumpkin?"

That had the witch pausing, the bag of peppers half-tied as he stared at the man in front of him

" _Make_ pumpkin? ... It's October big guy, you can literally buy however many pumpkins you want like two feet away from you,"

"No I mean..... to eat," the wolf tried to explain, a slight, frustrated pout on his face- clearly not sure how to explain what he wanted to say

"... Ok, you've gotta try to explain this a _little_ bit better for me so that the stupid people in the room can follow,"

Derek looked.... constipated, like he didn't know how to use words, looking down and twitching his nose

"I.. read that raw pumpkin is good for dogs, but I haven't been able to find it canned so .. what do I _do_ with an entire pumpkin? I mean... what part do I feed her? Do I just jerk the guts out like I do when I carve them and give her that or... or does she want the shell too?"

Stiles pressed his lips into a thin line, he didn't want to risk laughing at Derek- poor Derek who seemed to be struggling just to get any words out at all- but it was a little bit hilarious and alot endearing to hear him trying to tug his way through this explanation

"So you have a dog huh? What's her name?"

"Cordelia- not from Buffy, from American Horror Story,"

Stiles' eyes lit up, grinning brightly at that and feeling a laugh bubbling up under his ribs

_"Oh. My. God."_

Derek pouted, cheeks turning a slight rosy hue

"So what do I do? Guts? Shell?"

Right, back to _that_ disaster at hand

"Yeaaahh, ok, why don't I just come by your cabin tommorrow and _teach_ you what to do with pumpkin hm?"

Derek looked down shyly, cheeks turning pink as he leaned against his shopping cart

"You really-"

Unfortunately, before he could finish his question, the sound of a ringing phone went off, causing the werewolf to jump as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, his expression turning suddenly serious as he stared at the screen

"I'm sorry .... I have to take this, can we-"

"I'll send you my number, do what you need to do,"

Derek looked relatively relieved by that, pulling his cart aside until he was in a relatively secluded area so he could answer

Stiles smiled slightly, turning towards the fruit section

He was actually kind of excited that he could just send Derek his number rather than setting up a time to meet in person- it had been a long time since he'd gotten to use a carrier raven

 

~+~

 

Derek was .... well, "nervous" probably didn't begin to describe it

What had started out as a purely innocent offer from Stiles to come and help him with his dog was turning into something... tainted

He was going to have to ask Stiles for something that he really had no business asking and that made him feel dirty and wrong and hurt inside

The moment he heard the emissary tapping on the door he felt his heart sink, he didn't want to do this... he really didn't want to do this, but he didn't have much choice, he was running out of options here...

He slid the door open and forced a smile, feeling even worse the moment he saw how happy Stiles clearly was

"Hey, where's Cordelia?" the emissary asked curiously

Well, that certainly wasn't how he expected this to start...

"She's at the main house," Derek answered simply, stepping aside to let the other man in before shutting the door behind him

"'Main house'? What is this then, a shed?"

"More like a safe house, when I feel like safety may have been compromised, or even after full moons when we just need to sleep off the shift and don't feel like going back to the main house, plus it's... just sort of a place to get away to when I need a breath to myself,"

"A breath to yourself? Ohhhh.... do you have a pack house?" Stiles asked with a slight spark of excitement

"Yeah, you know the big house in the preserve?"

"That's _your's_!?"

Derek nodded shyly, wasting no more time and starting to walk towards the kitchen, chewing on his lip the entire way

"Wow.... nice,"

"Thanks," the wolf replied with a non-committal shrug, if he was being perfectly honest he wasn't _thrilled_ with the house, not because he didn't like it, but ... he had built the place under unfortunate circumstances and something about it still didn't really sit right with him

"Right! SO! Pumpkin time, first things first, you're gonna want to feed her the flesh, you CAN technically give her seeds but not raw seeds, make sure they're roasted first, to start, we need a pum-"

"Can I ask you something?"

Stiles paused, probably confused as to why Derek had a question so early on but seeming more than ready to tackle it, whatever it was

"Yeah, sure, go ahead,"

"Do you have an Alpha?"

He knew it was... well, "inappropriate" to say the least, it was probably on the level of asking a total stranger if they were married

Even if you did know someone in the supernatural community fairly well, it was just downright rude to go asking about the status of their clan and relationships, he knew that but... he felt like it was akin to ripping off a bandaid, he didn't know how else to ask so he went with the only thing that came to mind

Stiles seemed .... stunned, a little stunned but not offended, thankfully

"Um... well, no, not exactly, it's kinda just me, a beta, a kitsune, and a banshee as far as my pack goes, may I ask why....?"

Derek didn't answer verbally, not at first anyway, instead he just pulled out one of the kitchen chairs, nodding towards it in silent encouragement for Stiles to sit down before sitting across from him and starting to fidget, head hanging and biting his lip anxiously

"The phone call I got yesterday ... it was from one of my betas, she.... informed me that someone had come by looking for me to give them the bite... normally it wouldn't be such a concern but...."

"But let me guess, you've had people in the past who have tried to take it from you even after you told them no?"

"Tried.... and succeeded," Derek admitted quietly

It was a terrible shame for an Alpha to admit, one of the worst things that could happen to you as an Alpha was to have your bite stolen, but Derek was in no position to try to save his pride at this point, he was about to ask Stiles for something that required complete and total honesty on both their parts, lying or half-truthing wasn't going to get them anywhere

"Derek... I'm so sor-"

"It's .... not your fault, you don't need to apologize, but... but that's why I ... asked about the Alpha thing..."

"Are you... asking me to be your emissary?" Stiles asked quietly

It was a big deal, especially considering Stiles already had a pack

An Alpha and an Emissary bonding was alot like getting married, but with an obvious different set of circumstances, and merging their packs was like blending two families together, it was... not a decision to be taken lightly at all

Wich was exactly why Derek had been an Alpha for four years now and still hadn't even started to _look_ for an emissary yet, but now with this re-emerging... he needed to find one, and he needed to find one _now_

In alot of ways, emissaries were thought of as protectors of Alphas, they were responsible for sensing things and doing things that werewolves- even Alphas- simply weren't capable of, they protected Alphas from all threats- hunters, rival wolves, other supernaturals, people looking for the bite and ... pretty much anything else that could come along, wich was why they were important

Derek, in lacking an emissary, was carrying the weight of his pack as well as protecting his own status on his shoulders all by himself, that was too much for anyone to handle alone reasonably, he needed an emissary and the longer he spent without one the more clear that was made

And that was why he was coming to Stiles

Stiles was the only person outside of his own pack that he even somewhat trusted, it was no doubt a miracle that he was an emissary as well

If Stiles turned him down, he didn't know what he would do

The only other choice would be to get matched up with an emissary through a system- they existed, sort of like online dating, but they were FAR from ideal- and Derek trusted that about as far as he trusted it to snow in July

He would do whatever he'd have to in order to gain Stiles' trust, to get him to accept, he just hoped that Stiles would give him some way to get him on his side...

"Ok,"

Wait... what?

"Wait... what?"

"I said ok," Stiles repeated casually, shrugging a little and leaning back in his chair

"I need an Alpha, you need an emissary, we both already like eachother, it seems like a win/win, what's not to accept?"

"But.... don't you have any questions?"

"Mmmm.... not really, no, I know we don't know alot about eachother but I feel like we still _know_ eachother somehow pretty well, you know, like on a spiritual level, I trust my instincts and my intuition, I trust I'll know if something bad were about to happen, but everything in me is telling me that this is a good decision so... I'm in, besides, I'm starting to get some ... _pressure_ to find an Alpha myself, I have a feeling the sooner we unite, the better,"

"You're probably right about that," Derek agreed with a slight smile, an enormous sense of releif washing over him now that he knew that he and Stiles were on the same page and that they both wanted their packs to merge, figuring out all of the little technical details would be the easy part

"So.... how are we telling our packs?"

Well..... mostly.....

 

~+~

 

To say that Scott hadn't been pleased with the decision was like saying a cat wasn't pleased with being tossed into a tub of freezing water, and Stiles _swears_ , Scott looked at him the exact same way too

A look of betrayal, irritation, and some kind of terrifying, underlying seeking of vengeance, like it offended his entire being on a personal level to even _hear_ about a pack merging

"We don't NEED an Alpha, I'm the only wolf that's even in the pack,"

"Ok, and I know you THINK that, but Scotty, not to pull the 'birth over bite' card here, but you've been a werewolf for what, five minutes? I've been a witch my entire LIFE, trust me, it's hard enough to go through life as a supernatural solo, but when you start forming a pack you need to have an Emissary _and_ an Alpha, it's possible to lead a pack with only one but it's not the best idea, like going through life with one arm tied behind your back- possible, but not ideal, and with an easy-to-fix solution,"

Scott didn't seem pleased _or_ convinced

"This isn't a debatable topic ok? You know I value your opinion and I take it into consideration when I can but now isn't the time,"

"Why not? Is... is there something you aren't telling me?"

Actually... yes, Stiles hadn't wanted to admit it or talk about it but Derek hadn't been the only one bothered by running a pack on his own lately

Stiles had been getting some bad vibes over the last couple of weeks, like something was coming, something clawing under his skin, he felt like something was closing in around them, and as if all of that wasn't bad enough, he had noticed other wolves starting to encroach on him- and his territory- lately

Alphas he didn't know, betas he'd never met, likely they'd heard of his tiny and unattached pack and were hoping to merge with it themselves

They probably didn't know that he was aware of them, but he did

Stiles had always been an extremely observant person and this was no exception

"It's nothing you need to worry about but... yeah, there have been some red flags going up lately, we need an Alpha ok? We need a _good_ Alpha and Derek ... I trust Derek, can't you just trust me on this?"

Scott relented- thank God- but it was still clear that he wasn't happy about it

Oh well, atleast it was progress

 

~+~

 

When the merger happened, it was ...

Well, it was _something_

Most of the pack seemed to get along well enough with eachother, but there were certainly plenty of hold-outs, Scott on Stiles' side, and Isaac, Malia, and Cora on Derek's side

There were others in Derek's pack who were... less than thrilled by the merger, but they weren't nearly as vocal as those three

For Cora and Malia, it was just about not wanting to have an emissary, Isaac on the other hand didn't really care about having an emissary one way or another, it was Stiles specifically that he had a problem with

Derek was... well, Derek was _tired_

But it was the beginning of October now, just barely over a month since he had first met Stiles, and he was hoping that the pack activity he had planned would bring them all together a little bit more

 

~+~

 

"Do you guys go all out like this every year?"

Stiles sounded utterly _awed_ by that as he handed Derek another ziptie

"Yeah, I mean, we get bigger every year actually but..."

_"Wow....."_

For some reason it kind of made Derek's heart flutter, knowing that Stiles was impressed with him

"Do you decorate for Halloween?" he asked curiously, finishing wrapping the ziptie around the skeleton's leg to keep it in place before bringing up the scissors to snap the end off of the tie

"Yeah but I mean... nowhere NEAR as cool as what you do, we do a little more than the basics but my dad doesn't let me go totally all out you know? Not that I could afford to even if I wanted to though,"

"Maybe when you move out you can decorate your own place like this, I could help you with finding good decorations you can afford," Derek offered with a small shrug

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure," he nodded back, carefully climbing off of the ladder and taking a few steps back to examine his work, make sure it looked good and wasn't crooked or anything

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Stiles noted with a slight smile, setting down the box of zipties and tools he had been fishing through and stepping back towards Derek so he could get a better veiw of the decorations

"Ofcourse, now... does that look straight to you?"

"Mm... I think so, ofcourse it's kind of hard to judge the straightness of a skeleton climbing a tree," Stiles noted with a small smirk

He had a point, it was probably time to move on to the next one, ofcourse Derek didn't get a chance to mention that before he was interrupted

"Hey Stiles? We're out of batteries,"

Derek couldn't even bring himself to be annoyed with the interruption, he was just relieved it had been one of his betas who had gone straight to Stiles with this problem- it meant they were starting to accept him

An Alpha and an Emissary worked together like parents, the betas needed to be able to go to BOTH of them with anything at any time and not just whoever had been their original pack leader

"Well how many things are left that need batteries?"

Corey- the young chimera who had joined the pack barely a few months ago- didn't quite seem to have all of his information together yet

"Umm... I'm not sure.... six, maybe seven?"

Stiles nodded slowly, crossing his arms over his chest as he- presumably- tried to work out the math in his head

"Alright, I'll go pick some up, give me about a half hour ok?"

Corey smiled and nodded politely before rushing off, leaving Derek and Stiles to return to their section of the decorating

"You don't have to do that you know,"

"What? It's not a problem, how hard can it be to just run down to the drug store and pick up a pack of double As?" Stiles shrugged back

He had a point but...

Still, Derek didn't want him to feel like he _had_ to do anything, especially with the pack merging being as recent as it was...

"It's fine Big Guy, seriously, I'll grab the batteries and be back before you know it, in fact, if everybody keeps behaving so well, I'll even get them a little treat,"

"Ooohh are you going to get us ice cream!?"

Derek didn't even know where Erica _came from_ but the moment the word "treat" came out of Stiles' mouth she had appeared like he had just said "Bloody Mary" in the mirror three times

"I might, IF you guys keep behaving," Stiles smirked back, heading towards the garage to, presumably, get his car keys

"You know you don't have to do that either," Derek pointed out

"I know, dude, I don't HAVE to do anything, I WANT to do this, and it really, REALLY isn't a big deal,"

"Well... I usually pick up dinner for them after decorating... you could just wait and let me do it when I go to get food, it won't be that difficult-"

"Derek, it's alright, I've got this ok? It's just some batteries and a few bars of ice cream, it really, really isn't that big of a deal, so if you want to tell me what kind of icecram everybody likes- you know, get some requests, that sorta thing- I'd be pretty appreciative, the sooner we can get this out of the way, the sooner we can finish things out here and then- _dinner_ ,"

"Ofcourse, I should have known you had an ulterior motive," Derek said with a teasing smirk

Stiles just shrugged, winking at him playfully as he slid into the car

"I'll get those ice cream flavors," he relented a moment later, shaking his head fondly as he headed for the house so he could get a notepad and get the flavors written down

He had to admit, Stiles coming back with ice cream wasn't a bad idea

It'd be a quick way to endear him to any hold-outs in the pack, that was for sure

 

~+~

 

"Eighteen or twenty-four...?" Stiles muttered quietly, staring in minor frustration at the two packs of batteries in his hands

Decisions, decisions....

He should probably just go on, bite the bullet, and get the twenty-four pack, sure it was more expensive but realistically they were probably going to need it before the night was over with and it would prevent him from making another battery run....

Hopefully.....

He grabbed the pack of batteries, tossing it in his basket and taking the crumpled list of ice cream flavors out of his pocket for reveiw

He didn't even know if the drug store _had_ most of these flavors, but he supposed he could just find a decent enough substitute...

_"Are you sure this is enough?"_

_"It's enough, you want to put them to sleep, not kill them,"_

That brought Stiles to pause, ducking behind the nearest shelf and feeling his heart start to beat faster, a cold sweat breaking out over his skin

Put someone to sleep? _Kill_ them?

He didn't know if this had anything to do with the supernatural realm or not but it didn't really matter, if it was a supernatural issue he'd take care of it, if it was a human issue he'd tell his father- the sheriff

Either way, he needed to know

_"And this will take care of all of them? The entire pack?"_

So it _was_ concerning the supernatural

_"Keep your voice down.... and yes, all of them are affected by Wolfsbane to a degree, a light pump through the vents will be enough, remember, we want to save a quarter of the bag for the Alpha, they don't have an emissary so it shouldn't be **that** hard to get to him, but keeping him asleep will be more of the problem,"_

An Alpha without an emissary?

Either they were talking about someone outside of town...

Or they were talking about Derek and hadn't heard of the recent merger....

_"Look, we shouldn't be talking about this in public, you have the right stuff, I'll call you later and finish fleshing out the details,"_

Stiles jumped slightly as he heard the footsteps coming towards him, pressing himself a little bit harder against the shelf as he watched a young brunette girl walk past, carrying a simple plastic bag from the store and heading out into the parkinglot

He peeked out around the corner, eyes narrowing slightly and stepping out fully into the next aisle, looking for whoever the girl had been talking to, but there was no one there

He cursed quietly, scrubbing his hands down over his face before glancing at the freezer out of the corner of his eye

Well.... might as well get the ice cream before delivering the bad news....

 

~+~

 

"You think someone is planning to poison us?"

"Pretty sure, unless you know another pack around here without an emissary,"

Derek narrowed his eyes, lips pursing as he stared down at the coffee table

"How do you know it was for a pack around here? Maybe they're non-local and the perp just came here to get the Wolfsbane,"

Derek raised an eyebrow, glancing at Liam with mild amusement, but before he could comment, Stiles beat him to it

"The _perp_?" the witch snorted

"No, it's... it's not likely that they came all the way here just for Wolfsbane, especially considering that Wolfsbane isn't all that hard to find, especially not this strand, besides, all of the packs anywhere near here are already outfitted with emissaries, it's two towns over before you start reaching packs without one and there are plenty of places to get Wolfsbane between here and there,"

Stiles had a point, and just because other Alphas had been snooping around this territory lately looking for a way to get to the emissary, it didn't mean the hunters or.. whoever these people were had any reason to go out of their way to get Wolfsbane from here rather than their hometowns...

"So what do we do?" Scott asked suddenly, pulling Derek away from his thoughts

"Well, until we get more information, I'm gonna stay here with Derek and the rest of the pack- as long as he'll have me that is- I'll ward the house and make sure you all check in with the two of us daily, unfortunately without more intel that's the most I can do," the emissary replied with a clearly frustrated sigh

"Ofcourse you can stay here, you're part of the pack now, the entire pack is welcome here," Derek promised

"Thanks," Stiles said with a slight nod

"I'll go home, get my stuff, be back tonight, I'll even pick up dinner if you guys will tell me what you want,"

"Stiles... you really don't need to go through all of that, I can pick up dinner, it isn't a big deal, besides, you have enough to worry about with packing your stuff and coming back here,"

He knew Stiles was trying to endear himself to the pack, make himself seem usefull, treat them to earn their favor, but he didn't need to do any of that

"Derek it's fine, I'm going out anyway, five minutes grabbing some food bags isn't going to kill me, just .. call in the order at wherever you want and I'll pick it up on the way home,"

Derek wanted to argue, but Stiles was already up and patting him on the shoulder before he could, already heading out of the living room, leaving no room at all for Derek's arguments

So it was going to be one of _those_ relationships huh?

Well.... Derek couldn't quite say he was surprised

 

~+~

 

Stiles couldn't sleep

He had been trying to for the last two hours but with no success

He finally decided enough was enough, sliding out of bed and jerking the attention of Buffy and Willow from their sleep

"Go back to sleep, I'll be right back," he insisted quietly

Buffy twitched a little, but otherwise fell back into dreamland

Willow, however, was mainly unconvinced

"It's FINE, Will, nobody's getting food, you're not missing anything, go back to sleep," he insisted a little bit louder

The dog seemed more than a little reluctant to accept that, but ultimately laid back down, staring up at Stiles with what he could only assume to be concern as he headed out of the bedroom

He wasn't entirely sure what he was planning to do once he was out of the bedroom, he just knew that he couldn't stand to lay there and look at the ceiling any longer

He was surprised and- actually- a little relieved to see the kitchen light on when he started down the stairs, wondering who else was awake at this hour

Not all of the pack lived in the pack house with Derek- hell, not even most of them did- but there were still enough people there to make him wonder

He had expected Erica or maybe Isaac to be the ones in the kitchen in the middle of the night, but when he rounded the corner, he caught quite the surprise

"Derek? What are you doing up this late?"

The werewolf looked up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table, eyebrows raised neatly

"I could ask you the same question,"

"Couldn't sleep," Stiles shrugged back easily, making his way into the kitchen and pulling up a chair across from his temporary roommate

"Me neither," Derek replied quietly, giving something of a half-shrug himself and leaning back in his chair

Everything between them was quiet for a few moments, not an uncomfortable or awkward sort of quiet, but just... quiet

A peacefull, calm sort of quiet

It was nice, but it could only go on for so long

Stiles knew that they needed to get some sleep and all of the nice silent staring into oblivion in the world wasn't going to change that, so he might as well be the one to try ushering this along

"You know.... when I was a kid, there was a trick my mom used to use to help me go to sleep on nights when I couldn't,"

This seemed to perk Derek's interest, atleast a little bit

"What was it?"

The witch smirked, a mischevious glint in his eyes as he stood up from the kitchen chair

"Well, first of all, do you have any doughnuts?"

 

~+~

 

"So.... your mom's solution to you not being able to sleep, was feeding you doughnuts and chocolate milk... and watching cartoons?"

"Shark documentaries when they were on but when they weren't then yeah, pretty much,"

"Good to know," Derek snorted with a shake of his head

It sounded crazy, no... no, it _was_ crazy

But here he was, sitting on the couch in the dark, eating a bear claw with an X-Files mug full of chocolate milk on the coffee table and an old episode of Scooby Doo

It was... surprisingly pleasant

It was domestic and quiet and _mindlessly_ self-indulgent and it felt _great_

It was comforting in some odd way that he couldn't really explain, mindless and a little nostalgic and it felt good being wrapped in the blanket he kept over the couch, Stiles taking half of it on his side, the lingering of glazed sugar on his lips and the weird heaviness of the chocolate milk...

He wasn't sure if it would put him to sleep- he doubted it- but it was still far more comfortable than sitting in the hard kitchen chair had been, or laying upstairs in bed, alone save for Cordelia

"Wich Scooby Doo is your favorite?" Stiles asked suddenly, quiet and a little distant, as he leaned back a little more against the armrest of the couch

"You mean wich charector or-"

"No no, wich version of the TV show,"

"Mmm... are the movies allowed?"

"Nope, just the shows," Stiles hummed back, shifting again

"Probably the original, why do you ask?"

"I was just curious, seems to be the standard answer, I'm a bigger fan of What's New Scooby Doo? myself,"

"Hippie," Derek snorted playfully, sinking down a little bit lower on the couch and shifting again

He was feeling oddly sleepy all of a sudden, he wasn't sure why, but... kind of foggy and heavy, he found himself laying down fully on the couch, his eyes suddenly heavy as he listened to Stiles talk in the background about how What's New Scooby Doo? provided a cleverness and self-awareness that the original lacked without going all the way over the edge of maturity that the "stain upon humanity" Mystery Incorporated had

Derek didn't actually _listen_ to much of the argument as much as he heard Stiles' voice drilling on in the background, surprisingly soothing if he was being honest

It was nice

It was ... peacefull

And before he knew it, he was out cold

So apparently Stiles' little trick worked after all

 

~+~

 

Stiles felt better than he had in ages

One would think, given all of the trouble he had sleeping lately, that that any sleep would feel amazing, but Stiles knew for a fact that he and Derek had slept well because of the little trick they had pulled the last few nights

(Incidentally, the first night hadn't been the only and both of them had been more than excited to apply the miracle technique a second, third, and even fourth time as required)

Now he felt so much better that the difference was even visible, the moment he had walked into the sheriff's station he was getting compliments on how much fresher and more well-rested he looked

(Granted they were from Deputy Martha, who had been telling him every day for YEARS that he looked tired and needed to get some sleep, so he wasn't sure how much other people noticed, but hey it was a start atleast)

"I don't know what you think we can do Kiddo, without anything to go on we're pretty much jumping blindly off a ledge here."

"Well luckily I have atleast something, I did some research of my own over the last couple of days, turns out the girl we're looking for is named Tracy, don't have a last name but it's better than nothing,"

"Yeah.... better than nothing," the sheriff relented with a sigh, sitting down at his desk and pulling up the database on the computer

"I have to say though, I don't recall arresting anybody by the name of Tracy... how old was she son? Do you have an estimate?"

"Yeah, she couldn't possibly have been older than me, we think she's looking to get the bite and if that's the case then she's human so... no weird supernatural aging, I'd have a pretty hard time believing she's older than eighteen or nineteen,"

His father gave a slow nod, refining the search and giving his head a slow shake

"Sorry Kiddo, no dice,"

Stiles clicked his tongue, giving a quiet sigh and shrugging

"Ah well... it was worth a shot anyway,"

"What was worth a shot?"

Both Stilinskis glanced up, a bright grin crossing Stiles' face

"Allison!! How was Mexico?"

The young woman shrugged, making her way towards the desk and peering over the sheriff's shoulder at the monitor

"Unsuccessfull, in fact it probably did more harm than good,"

"Seriously?"

"Let's just say that the Caleveras weren't freinds of our's as it was, and now they pretty much want us dead," came a tired reply from Allison's father as the older man stepped into the sheriff's office

"Well that certainly sucks, and no luck with the werewolf you were tracking?"

"Unfortunately not, it seems that he DID go to Mexico for a wile but he left long before we go there, no idea where he went after that,"

Stiles nodded sympathetically, reaching up and gently patting the older man on the chest

"You'll get there,"

".... Thanks," he said slowly, not exactly amused

"What about you guys? Who are you trying to find?" Allison asked, changing the subject from their latest failure to something that was hopefully a little more optimistic

"This girl named Tracy... we think she's planning to take Derek's bite, we know she has Wolfsbane and she's planning to put the pack to sleep with extra emphasis on the Alpha but we don't know for sure yet if sh-"

"Wait wait, who's Derek?"

Ah... right, he forgot, the Argents had been gone for three weeks now, they had missed everything to do with the merging...

"Ahh.... well, looks like I have some news for you guys, you should probably sit down,"

 

~+~

 

"Hey Derek!! Derek! I've got something for you!"

Derek grunted quietly, gritting his teeth as he clutched the bookshelf a little bit tighter

As much as he wanted to answer Stiles, he knew if he alerted the witch to where he was, he'd just come running in and causing a disruption

Normally that wouldn't be such a problem, but considering that he was in the middle of trying to get a book placed in the very top shelf of his bookshelf, wich was... easier said than done

He was trying to cram this book in without causing the entire shelf to come down and it wasn't exactly going _well_.....

"Derek! How come you didn't answer me?"

"Just... a minute..." Derek grunted back, biting his lip and trying to force the book a little bit harder

Almost.... _**almost**_.....

"Why don't you just put it on the bottom shelf?"

"Alphabetical order,"

"Well... why don't you just move one of the books off of the top shelf then?"

"I already did... if I move another one the space will be too big and it'll throw everything out of balance..."

"Well that's annoying," Stiles frowned

Wich pretty much encapsulated Derek's feelings on the subject too, to be fair

"No kidding..."

"Do me a favor, move aside for a sec?"

Derek frowned, huffing quietly but ultimately deciding to just give in and step away, even though it caused the book to- predictably- fall right off the shelf

Stiles picked it up easily, pressing it into the slot in the bookshelf and clenching his fist, his other hand twisting slightly as the book slowly slid into place

"Alright, it's in there, but I hope you never plan on rereading anything on that shelf, 'cause you're going to have one hell of a time getting it out of there if you do,"

Derek pouted, tilting his head to the side in confusion

"Why would I buy a book if I don't intend to reread it?"

There was a quiet, almost awkward pause as the two of them stared at eachother, before finally Derek decided to speak again

"What's the surprise you brought me?"

"Oh, um, food, I brought you lunch from Rosabella's,"

That was... surprising

In the last week of him being here Stiles had already done more simple- but incredibly pleasant- little things for him than his pack had really ever done...

It was... it was nice

Weird, admittedly, but nice

"Well um... thank you," he said with a shy smile, walking towards the emissary and following him out of the library

"Don't mention it, I picked up a little something else too,"

Derek tilted his head, once again taken by surprise

If the betas were around right now, they'd probably be teasing him rather than taking notes from Stiles on how to be a nice houseguest (though, he wasn't sure if they really counted as "guests" considering they lived there...) so it was probably for the better that he and Stiles had the house to themselves at the moment, given that the betas who usually stayed in the house were at school or work currently

"C'mon," Stiles insisted, nudging Derek out of his stupor and leading him downstairs and into the kitchen

Sure enough, once they arrived, Derek could clearly see a couple of bags from Rosabella's, and right next to them....

"Is that a box of doughnuts?"

The smirk on Stiles' face answered that question for him

"What? You don't want to sleep for the rest of the week?"

"Oh I want to sleep," Derek replied, head tilting and eyebrows raising as he stared at the box of treats

"I just don't want to get diabetes in the process,"

"Oh relax, you're a werewolf, you can't get diabetes,"

That.. was actually true... not that Derek wanted to admit it

"Do you have a comeback for everything?"

"Pretty much, yeah,"

 

~+~

 

"What do you think?"

Lydia wrinkled her nose, a look of clear displeasure flittering across her face

"Mm... no, try something else,"

Stiles heaved a sigh, walking over to the small pile of costumes he had picked out earlier and grabbing another one to try on

He loved costume shopping with Lydia because she was honest and critical but ... he also hated costume shopping with Lydia because she was honest and critical....

"Ok, but I'm running out of costumes here," he replied with a slight huff as he trudged back to the dressing room, yanking the curtain closed and sighing as he started unpacking the costume from the bag it was in

He hated dressing rooms, they were so cramped and easy to break into and he was kind of terrified that the curtain was going to blow back and reveal him in all of his nudity or something

"By the way, I need to talk to you about something magic related, just... when you get the chance,"

Magic huh?

That was a bit different, Lydia never needed advice or information regarding magic, whatever it was must be pretty important

(And possibly unusual)

"Yeah? What is it?" he asked, easily slipping off the rejected costume and reaching for the pants belonging to the new costume

Velcro atrocities though they may be....

"I ... was wondering if you could help me with my mom,"

That made him drop the aforementioned pants, mouth falling open as he blinked and dropped down to start picking up the lost fabric, praying the curtain would stay in place

"Ummm.... I'm pretty sure no amount of magic can help you with whatever it is you're talking about there Lyds...."

"I need to find an apartment so she can stop trying to set me up in places that once belonged to the elderly, do you think a card reading could point me in the right direction?"

"Yeah.... yeah it could, probably an oracle card reading, I mean, it can't exactly tell you to like.... go north or look up a specific listing but it can give you abstract help, like things to avoid and if you're on the right path and stuff," he shrugged back as he started to drag the pants on

Ugh, he hated costume fabric, it never felt like it fit him right...

"Alright, we'll do that then, thanks,"

"No problem," he called back, reaching for the shirt to the costume

"Oh and Stiles?"

"Yeah?"

"Nice Batman underwear,"

He hated these changing rooms

 

~+~

 

The moment the familiar sound of the Jeep came roaring down the dirt road, Derek felt an immediate wave of releif wash over him

He didn't hesitate for a moment, jerking his attention away from the chaos around him and making his way towards the car

"What the hell is going on!?" Stiles shouted as he opened the car door and stepped out- wich was funny, given that was pretty much exactly what Derek was about to ask

"Derek is trying to start a fight with Allison," Scott said immediately, wich only clawed even further under the Alpha's skin

"First of all I wasn't STARTING anything, second of all, did you know he's consorting with hunters?" Derek snapped in response, his eyes firmly focused on Stiles

"They aren't hunters anymore! Not... not exactly, anyway, and what do you mean _consorting_?"

"They're _Argents_ , that should be enough of an answer," Derek practically hissed

"ENOUGH," Stiles growled, taking what appeared to be a deep, calming breath as he stepped in between the wolves, considering that Scott had followed Derek the moment he left their... _confrontation_... to address Stiles

"Derek, Allison and Chris are our freinds, I know they used to be hunters but they aren't anymore, they're more like... free agents, they're not going to hurt anyone, I swear,"

_"Not going to hurt anyone"?_

Was he crazy!?

Had Stiles completely lost his mind!?

They were _Argents_ for God's sake, all they DID was hurt people!

"I _trusted_ you," Derek hissed

"Derek, listen to me-"

"I told you this was a bad idea," Scott muttered quietly, earning a look of disapproval from Stiles

" _Seriously?_ "

Derek shrugged away from the two of them, not even bothering to say anything as he headed towards the house

How could he have made such a terrible mistake?

How could he trust someone who trusted _Argents_?

But.... even now, it didn't FEEL like a mistake

What felt like a mistake was the idea of leaving Stiles, and he knew part of that was the bond they had developed- the bond between Alpha and Emissary that they formed when they merged the pack- but ... part of it wasn't

Part of it was something else

Ofcourse maybe that something else was just wishfull thinking

Stiles had been an incredible emissary until now- and a good freind, at that- so even if the bond WAS easier to break- it wasn't, for the record, once an Alpha and Emissary are bonded it's incredibly difficult to break the bond without one of them being dead, wich is why people so rarely entered into these things lightly- should he really consider breaking it over one thing?

Normally he'd say no but ...

These were Argents, he knew better

"Derek wait!!"

"What?" the werewolf snapped as he turned around, glaring at the witch behind him

Stiles looked taken aback by this, but his expression quickly changed from one of shock to one of irritation

"What's the matter with you all of a sudden? Look, I know the Argents have done some crappy things in the past, trust me, I get it, but Chris and Alliso-"

"They killed my family!" Derek snarled

He... hadn't quite wanted to reveal that right then, but it had just slipped out and now...

Now there really was no taking it back, especially considering the absolutely crushed look on Stiles' face

"The Argents, they.... my family.... Kate Argent killed my family,"

Everything was quiet for a few moments, a terrible sense of unease and awkward silence settling in before finally, FINALLY, Stiles managed to speak again

"I'm sorry," he said quietly

"I didn't know about... I didn't know who was responsible,"

Derek glanced down, squeezing his eyes shut and hoping that Stiles would understand the gravity of the situation, hoping that he would grasp just how untrustworthy the Argents were and drop the issue

He knew what had happened to Derek's family, he had realized who Derek was on their second meeting, and there was hardly any adult in Beacon Hills who didn't know who Derek was...

"I'm sorry.... but Derek, I mean what I said, Allison and Chris aren't like that, Allison was just a kid when the fire happened, and Chris didn't know about it- I swear, the two of them have broken apart from the hunting community, and the other Argents.... Kate, Gerard, Victoria.... they're all dead, Derek they've been dead for years now, and don't think that I just blindly went into trusting them ok? There were years where I had the Argents- Chris included, even Allison sometimes- on my hit list, don't let Scott's sentimentality fool you, I was always aware of who they were, long before he was bitten, I don't change my mind about people lightly and I don't give out second and third chances the way an old lady gives out butterscotch so if I say they're good then you need to believe me,"

"So I'm just supposed to trust them because you say so?"

"No, you're supposed to trust ME,"

There was a heavy silence between them then, a tension they hadn't had with eachother before, and it seemed for a wile that neither of them were prepared to back down, but then, finally, Derek bowed his head, eyes on the ground and a massive exhale leaving his lungs

"I trust you," he said quietly, glancing back up at Stiles with a clearly nervous glint in his eyes

"I trust you... but I still don't trust them yet, and if they prove to be anything other than what you say-"

"I'll put them down myself," Stiles said seriously, his gaze steady and strong

Derek nodded slowly, clearly still not entirely comfortable with the idea, but apparently trusting Stiles more than he feared the Argents

"Alright," he agreed quietly, pulling a soft smile from the witch's face

"Good, great even, now... can we go hear what the Argents have to say? They must be here for a reason,"

Derek was a bit skeptical of that, but ultimately nodded in agreement, allowing Stiles to breathe a soft sigh of releif and take his hand to lead him outside

Derek was still rather tense about the entire thing, but he wanted to try for Stiles, so he followed, simply keeping his mouth shut as they walked out towards where the Argents were

"Don't worry, everything's been cleared up now, so what was it you guys wanted to talk to us about?"

"We have some information about the people trying to take your Alpha's bite," the older Argent- Chris, Derek presumed- answered immediately

"People? Don't you mean person?" Stiles frowned back

"Unfortunately no.... that's part of what we have to talk to you about,"

Derek nodded slowly, shifting on his feet and glancing towards Stiles as the witch spoke

"Well... sounds like you'd better come inside,"

Derek never thought he'd see the day when he was inviting Argents inside of his house, but then he wasn't the one inviting them so did it really count?

In any case, he was practically glued to Stiles as they entered the house, the Argents and the pack members who had been there at the time trailing relatively close behind them and into the living room

"What do you mean by 'people'?" Stiles asked the second the front door closed, barely even having sat down on the couch when the words were tumbling out of his mouth

"I mean that Tracy isn't the only person looking to take Derek's bite, there's an entire group that are planning to all strike at once,"

"An entire group?" Lydia frowned, shifting her attention from the humans and glancing at Stiles

"That isn't normal is it?"

"No.... no it isn't, does this group have a leader?"

"They do, that's how we know about them," Allison added before allowing the conversation to shift back to her father

"The guy who organized all of this is the same one we've been tracking for the last two months, he's a wolf named Theo Raeken,"

Just the sound of that name had Derek going stiff, the color draining from his face as his heart sank into his stomach

"I take it you recognize that name Big Guy?" Stiles asked softly, reaching out to gently squeeze Derek's hand

"Yeah.... I do," Derek replied quietly, looping his fingers along with Stiles' and swallowing tightly

"I told you that my bite was taken from me once before... didn't I?"

"And let me guess, this fine gentleman was the one to do it?"

The Alpha gave a slow nod, his eyes downcast as his stomach churned with nervous energy

Derek knew what Theo was capable of, and although he didn't know the other wolf's motivations, he was sure that they weren't on any level _good_

"Theo is smart, he knows what he's doing, he's manipulative and slick, and he's selfish, if he's leading this group, there's something in it for him, he's not doing it out of the 'kindness' of his heart,"

"I kind of gathered that much, no offense," Stiles agreed

"What kind of motivations would he have for leading a group of humans to get the bite though?" Scott asked in confusion

"They may have promised him something in return, like money or gifts or-"

"Power," Derek interrupted

"Theo wants power, he has ever since I met him, unless he's gone through a DRASTIC change of charector in the last year or so..."

"What kind of power could he get from you?" Scott frowned

"Alpha power," Cora answered quietly

"Theo wants a pack to rule, it's actually a pretty good plan- in a sinister kind of way- get a bunch of stupid humans bitten then kill Derek and become their Alpha,"

"But why not just kill Derek first and bite them all himself?" Malia frowned

"Because he knows you'll avenge Derek, most likely," Stiles shrugged back

"He would need to make sure his pack is strong enough to take on all of you before throwing down that gauntlet, so he gets a bunch of betas, trains them up strong, becomes their Alpha, and takes out Derek's pack,"

"Why not just kill us all right away then? If he's going to use Wolfsbane to put us to sleep anyway, just slit our throats and get it over with," the coyote argued

"Because he wants to see if any of you will turn on me first," Derek answered quietly

"Theo is an opportunist, why waste a perfectly good pack just because he jumped the gun? He'd rather wait it out and see wich of you will become his betas when faced with the choice of that or death instead of just killing you all on the spot and potentially losing several strong betas, if even one of you were to join him, he'd consider that worth the wait,"

The room went quiet after that, no one quite sure what to say or do, until finally Stiles ended up speaking again

"Ok, so, here's the thing.... if this Theo guy knows you, knows the pack, then he knows where you live, right? Then I don't think it's safe here, you should all stay in the cabin until we can get this dealt with,"

"What do you mean 'we all'? What about you?" Derek frowned

"I'll stay here, when they try to get through the wards I'll be ready for them and able to handle it,"

"Absolutely not! You think I'm just going to leave you here by yourself!? The wards should be strong enough to keep them out!"

"Not as strong as you'd hope, for one person... yeah, but how many are we talking about here Argent?"

"Seven... maybe eight, maybe even more than that," Chris replied quietly

"Your wards can hold up to that, your magic is strong Stiles," Derek insisted

"Yeah but if this Theo guy knows enough to plot this far then he probably knows you're expecting him and have taken precautions, the good news is they don't know you have an emissary, but you easily could have hired a witch to ward your house anyway, look... I'm not saying he DEFINITELY has a way in- by any means- but he MIGHT, this is no longer ammetuer hour and if he's really as smart as you think he is then he'll have planned for protection to be in place and have a way around it, it's better if you guys just aren't here,"

"Fine, then you come with us,"

"Derek I can't..."

"Yes you can!" the wolf snapped

"I said NO, somebody has to stay here for when they come so you guys can be alerted and the situation can be dealt with, someone who ISN'T a wolf, or a human, or like anyone else you have in your pack, that's ME Derek, me, Lydia, and Kira, we're the ones who they aren't counting on, and I'm not going to ask Lydia or Kira to stay here with me,"

"I'll stay, it isn't any trouble," Lydia said quickly, a look of clear determination on her face, despite the frustrated sigh that Stiles heaved

"Lyds-"

"I'm looking for a new place anyway, I can get a feel for the surroundings and decide if I want an apartment near the woods or not,"

"And the kitsune?" Derek asked suddenly

"Kira's school semester already started and the college is clear across town from here, it'd be unreasonable to ask her to make an hour drive every morning to get to class when she already lives on campus, look... Lydia and I will be fine ok? Please, Derek, there's nothing to worry about,"

"Bull! You're asking me to leave you here like a couple of sitting ducks wile I hide out in a cabin! That's not 'nothing'!!"

"You said I have strong magic Derek, now do you believe that or not?"

"Ofcourse I do, but that doesn't mea-"

"Do you trust me?"

The wolf shut his mouth, irritation and protest clearly written all over his face as the witch reached out and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly and repeating the question in a quieter, softer tone now

"Do you trust me?"

That question was going to be the death of him

 

~+~

 

Stiles hated this arrangement

And yes, he knew he was the one who suggested it, but seriously, he freaking HATED this arrangement

The house was huge and it felt cold and lonely without the wolves there, even with Lydia- who was only around half the time anyway- it just made him feel so unnervingly alone....

He supposed that was the curse of all big houses but still... that didn't make him feel any better

It had been four days since Derek- with all the reluctance he had- took his betas and dog and went to stay in the cabin, leaving Stiles and Lydia alone in the pack house, and ever since he left, Stiles had barely been able to sleep

He had gotten attached to their little ritual (as unhealthy as it may be) and really... had just gotten attached to Derek

Now it felt like he was sleeping in an unfamiliar bed and he couldn't get used to it

He heaved a quiet sigh, scrubbing a hand down his face and finally deciding to get up and go downstairs, this time not trying to convince Willow or Buffy to stay in bed and sleep

If he couldn't have doughnuts and chocolate milk with Derek, then he'd just have them with his pets

(Well, STILES would have doughnuts and chocolate milk, Buffy and Willow would have water and a few tiny bites off of his doughnuts that nobody had to know about)

 

~+~

 

Derek had always slept best in the cabin, further away than ever from the noises of the town, surrounded by nothing but nature and the soft sounds of the forest

It had always been the most relaxing thing to him, and yet... here he laid awake for the fourth night in a row, unable to go to sleep no matter how hard he tried

It didn't make sense to him that he and Stiles had been conducting their little ritual for such a short amount of time and yet he had grown so overwelmingly attached that it was the only thing that could get him to sleep anymore

Or... perhaps, _Stiles_ was the only thing that could get him to sleep anymore...

Somehow, that thought unnerved him just as much as the thought that he needed sugary pastries and chocolate milk in order to sleep...

There were so few things in this world that Derek could actually use to help him sleep and now one had essentially been taken from him, it was kind of infuriating

He rolled over for what was probably the billionth time that night, wondering if his body even knew what "comfortable" felt like anymore

He didn't even have doughnuts in the cabin so he couldn't try to duplicate their little ritual either....

_Ugh_

And to make matters worse, when he rolled over again he was practically face to face with Stiles' staff, wich the emissary had left there as some kind of extra precaution, though he didn't really know what it was

But if Stiles wanted to keep it here then far be it from him to refuse

Still.... just looking at the staff had him remembering how easy and peacefull things had been with Stiles there in the middle of the night, able to focus on his heartbeat when things were difficult, letting his breathing lull him to sleep, and now....

He squeezed his eyes shut, huffing quietly

He wished that Theo and his group of idiots would just hurry up and make their move already, the faster they could deal with this threat and get it out of the way, the better

 

~+~

 

Of all the people Stiles didn't expect to call him for no apparent reason, Natalie Martin was right at the top of the list

He felt like the fact that she was calling at all was a little bit absurd really

It was just too weird considering their.... history..... and especially considering what she had said

_"I don't want us to keep being at odds with eachother, for Lydia's sake, if you have the time to meet with me later I'd like to clear the air, maybe start fresh?"_

Yeah, Stiles believed that as much as he believed that he was going to suddenly discover real, live Pokemon living under Derek's porch

But he agreed anyway, to see what the hell was up and make sure nothing too serious was going on

Ofcourse, to go alone would be crazy- the bad kind of crazy- so he brought a freind along with him

"Stiles, nice to see you, and you brought your... little weasel...."

"Buffy's a ferret, wich I guess is technically a little weasel, but she'd probably take offense to that," Stiles shrugged back, reaching up to gently scratch Buffy under her chin as the ferret leaned up into his affectionate touch

Natalie Martin did not look pleased

"Well... come in, it um... it IS housebroken, right?"

Stiles could feel Buffy tense up on his shoulder, as if the ferret knew the woman was talking about her

"Yeah, SHE'S litter trained," he replied briskly, reluctantly stepping into the house

He was almost waiting for a trap door to open or an axe on a pendulum to swing down and cut off his head or something.... he just didn't trust this woman

"SO, you want to set things right for Lydia's sake?" he asked, sitting down in one of the armchairs by the coffee table and letting Buffy climb down to rest in his lap

"Yes.... I've been thinking about it lately, thinking about my relationship with my daughter, it seems that no matter what I say or how hard I try to convince her she's not going to quit this ... mission she's on, this... pack thing she wants to do, and I would rather keep a relationship with my daughter than lose it just over that," the older woman explained, taking the tea pot from the silver tray at the end of the coffee table and carefully pouring the tea into two cups before setting one in front of Stiles

He was hesitant to drink it, for all he knew it was poisoned, but when he saw Natalie drinking her's he figured it was probably safe

It had come out of the same teapot after all, so he took a sip, surprised to find that it was actually pretty good, raspberry maybe?

"After all this time, you're finally making this decision? Sorry if I'm a little skeptical, what brought on the change?"

"Lydia is moving away, not just to the dorms but to an actual apartment of her own, she finished her basic studies and is going to be moving on to getting her P.H.D, and she's going to start an internship come spring... she's almost gone now, you know? I know that if I don't patch things up with her now I'll lose her forever,"

That made sense, he supposed

It was still strange, but it made sense

"Right," he said slowly, taking another sip of the tea

"I don't suppose Lydia is aware of this little meeting?"

"No, not at all, and honestly I'd like to keep it that way, I'll tell her later tonight when we see eachother that I've decided to give things a chance, if you want to tell her that we spoke and decided to put aside our differences then that's your choice ofcourse,"

Yeah, that sounded good...

But for Lydia's sake he supposed he could get past it, he could make it work...

Lydia was his best freind other than Scott and he would do anything for her

Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how much he could do right at that moment, he was starting to feel kind of... woozy...

He took a breath, closing his eyes and blinking them open as his vision started to blur, his hands starting to shake and causing him to drop the teacup, he could hear Buffy making little squealing sounds next to his ear but his head was.... POUNDING and his heart was beating faster and ... and...

Before he knew it he was on the ground, body shaking and breathing shallow as he tried to figure out what in the hell was going on

"Well, that took longer than I expected," Natalie snorted

He watched in horror as the woman rose from her chair and started walking towards him- well, stalking is more like it

"You ... poisoned the cup...." he muttered between gritted teeth, trying his hardest to keep himself awake

"Very perceptive... you must watch alot of crime shows,"

Actually, it was more just the process of elimination, but he needed to save his breath for something important rather than just arguing with her

"What... what did-"

"Don't worry, it's nothing that will do any permanent damage... unfortunately, just a little pain, a little sleep... a little fear, this is a _warning_ , Mr. Stilinski, once and for all: Stay away from my daughter, and keep her out of your ... werewolf, Pagan, nonsense... or the next time you won't be so lucky,"

Werewolf pagan nonsense... he had to admit, that was a new one

"There won't.... BE... a next... time..." he gritted

He had only been poisoned this time because he was naive enough to trust her- barely- but he'd never be making that mistake again

"Don't be so sure, my new freind Theo seems very crafty,"

Theo...?

"Theo.... _Raeken_?"

"How do you two know eachother anyway?"

"We don't..." he snarled

"Really? Well, he certainly seemed to know you," she replied simply, a slight smirk on her face as she walked right past him and started heading for the door

"I have errands to run, don't worry, you should fall asleep soon, I really shouldn't have to tell you this, but if you should happen to wake up before I return... as stated earlier, this little meeting stays between us, not that Lydia would ever believe you, but if you try to tell anyone else... Theo told me to give you a message, that he'll finish his plans before you could ever think of stopping him,"

Stiles gave a weak snarl, but allowed the tension to drain out of him once he heard the door open and shut, knowing that she was gone now

Theo was the instigator in all of this.... he should have known

If Natalie was acting now, then Theo probably was too, using the human to get Stiles out of his way so he could get to Derek

Wich meant that he knew about Stiles beforehand....

Well, there went their advantage....

He let out a shaking breath, fighting to keep his eyes open and clicking his tongue to draw Buffy's attention

"Go... go to Dad.... go to Dad...." he panted, using the last of his energy up in a burst of magic, forcing the door open and quietly urging the ferret to go

His vision was fading now, and this time there was nothing he could do to stop it, but seeing Buffy run out of the house atleast brought him some form of peace

He just hoped he had trained her well enough for this....

 

~+~

 

"Sheriff?"

"Yeah?"

"There's a ferret scratching at the door,"

John Stilinski had gotten very accustomed to dealing with Weird Crap TM over the years, but he had to admit, this was a first even for him

"Well let her in,"

The deputy looked mildly surprised but not as alarmed as he maybe should have

"Sir?"

"You heard me, let the little creature in,"

With what was probably reluctance, the deputy headed out of the office and presumably opened the front door

Sure enough, only a few moments later, his son's familiar black and tan ferret came scampering in and immediately started pawing at the sheriff's leg

"Well hello there, got away from Stiles did you?" he chuckled, reaching down to pick her up

But the ferret wasn't having it, instead she hopped away, running around in circles and pausing every few seconds to stare pointedly at the sheriff

"Sir... do you know what it's doing?"

"Not a clue," John answered honestly

"But I know someone who does,"

Deciding it might be better to call Stiles before riding around with a hyperactive ferret all the way to the preserve, he picked up the phone and hurried to dial Stiles' number

There was just one problem.....

He didn't answer

Stiles was a forgetfull person, that was true, and he at times just didn't like to be bothered, but he was good about answering his phone and when it came to the sheriff he _always_ picked up, no matter where he was or what he was doing

So there really were only a few viable explanations for this

1\. He was asleep

2\. Something was wrong with his phone

3\. He was in the shower

Or 4. Something horrible had happened

There was no answer....

Now, all of a sudden, he was starting to get worried

He called both the home phone as well as the phone at Derek's house- neither one had any luck...

NOW the sheriff was worried

"Alright... let's see if my son's emergency back up plan worked or not..." he said quietly, reaching into the bottom drawer of his desk and pulling out a tiny ferret harness and extendable leash

"Let's do this,"

 

~+~

 

_"... il...s..."_

_"..il..es..."_

_"S..iles..._

_"Stiles...."_

_"Stiles...."_

_"Stiles!!"_

Stiles gasped loudly, jerking upright and coughing, his entire body shaking

There was a flurry of motion, hands on him, holding him down, holding him back, despite the struggling

"Stiles!! Stiles it's me! It's me!!"

"..D....Dad...?" he mumbled, finally pausing in his desperate attempts to fight off the weights around him

"Yeah... yeah it's me son, it's me, just... calm down, take a breath,"

Stiles squeezed his eyes shut, nodding slowly and taking a deep, steadying breath, fingers twitching by his sides as he tried to regain his senses

"Stiles... I need you to tell me what happened,"

What happened...

What happened......?

"Derek!" he shouted suddenly, jumping to his feet- or atleast, trying to- and wobbling as his father rushed to steady him

"Stiles-!"

"Derek! They're gonna get Derek, you've gotta let me go!"

"Stiles CALM. DOWN! You can't even stand! You need to tell me what happened!"

He took another breath, tumbling down onto the arm of the couch behind him, his hands were shaking like leaves and even his shoulders were trembling, he was so sick that he felt like he could probably puke all over the floor- and it'd serve Natalie Martin right if he did

He was soaked in sweat and his vision was still kind of blurry, but he had to put all of that aside for now, he had to concentrate on Derek

"Remember that bad thing I told you about?" he asked, his nails digging into the arm of the couch as he tried to keep himself from coughing up his guts

"You mean those people wanting Derek's bite? How could I forget?" the sheriff frowned back

"They're going for him- _now_ ," Stiles gritted out, glancing down and giving a tiny smile as Buffy started climbing up his leg

She saved his life, he'd have to remember to pick up some more treats for her later

"What do I do?" John asked, drawing his son's attention back towards him

"Call Derek and warn him, then send Parrish out to the cabin in the woods by the preserve to protect the pack, Buffy can show him where it is,"

"So you've not only trained the ferret to find _me_ in an emergency, you've honed her in on Derek now too?" he asked in surprise

"No.... haven't had the time for that, I left my staff in the cabin, she can track the magic, benefits of her acting as something of a familiar, she's way more in touch with me and my magic than anything," the witch explained, gently scratching the ferret under her chin as she perched on his lap

"Right... Parrish is outside, he followed us here in the squad car- and, by the way, if you could teach your German Shepherd this little trick so I don't have to follow a _ferret_ down seven blocks on a leash, that'd be great,"

Stiles nodded slowly, wincing as his stomach churned

"Yeah... I'll remember to do that when I don't feel like my guts are about to explode anymore," he muttered back, bringing a level of seriousness back to the conversation

"You still haven't told me what happened, you look like you're about to nock on death's door, what do you need?"

"Call Derek, get Parrish, then we'll talk,"

"This isn't a negotiation Stiles-"

"This is an EMERGENCY, I'd already have left if I could walk!" the emissary bit back

With clear reluctance, the sheriff nodded, taking his cell phone out of his pocket and starting to dial as he ran to the door and stepped out of the house, presumably to get Parrish

Stiles took another breath, blinking again to try to clear his vision

His head was pounding, his heart was still hammering in his chest, and his ears were starting to ring

Whatever Natalie had poisoned him with, it was nasty, and he had an idea of what it might be....

Carefully, he set Buffy down on the back of the couch and slid down, reaching out to drag the broken teacup a little bit closer

"Reveal," he commanded, snapping his fingers as a little blue flame lit over the ground tea (and whatever the hell else was in there) in the remnants of the cup

A loud, horrendous screeching came from the cup, causing Stiles to cover his ears and grind his teeth until it stopped, though his head was still ringing long after...

God no wonder he felt so sick....

"Parrish is ready to go, Derek's not picking up,"

He glanced up, his already pale face losing even more color as he cursed and stared up at his father

"He probably forgot to charge his phone.... _again_...." he muttered, stumbling to his feet to pick up Buffy again

"Make sure Parrish doesn't let go of the leash, and don't let her out of the car until he's at the edge of the preserve and can't drive any longer," he instructed, handing her over to his father, but keeping two fingers lingering on the ferret's head, a soft, violet light wavering between them

"Go, be my eyes," he breathed, voice deeper, wispier, than it usually was, as his eyes started to turn stark white

The sheriff knew what Stiles was doing, he had seen him do it once before, but it was still possibly the most unnerving thing he had ever witnessed

He didn't waste any time in handing the ferret over to his deputy, watching as she squirmed and wiggled, clearly trying to get to the ground so she could run off, she'd probably go stir crazy in the car but...

"Hurry," Stiles instructed breathlessly, reaching a hand out blindly and gripping tightly around his father's shoulder

"Please hurry..."

"I'll get there as fast as I can, sirens and everything," Parrish promised as he rushed to the driver's seat of the car, ushering the ferret inside first before sliding in and shutting the door

The minute the squad car had started up, the sheriff turned and gently took Stiles' hand, helping to guide him outside to the car

"Where do we go from here?"

"Home, I'm gonna need you to make me an antidote from my apothecary,"

"Do you have everything _labelled_ this time Son? Or is this going to be another mugwort incident of '09?"

Stiles let out a slight snort, his hand squeezing a little tighter around his father as they walked

"Everything's labelled, I promise, just uh.... one little thing,"

"What's that?"

"Don't get mad if I upchuck in your car,"

 

~+~

 

"What do you think?"

Derek glanced up, eyebrows raised as he watched Erica twirl in the newly arrived Halloween costume

"Well, I admit, the Mad Hatter is a good look for you," he answered simply

Erica grinned wickedly, taking off her top hat and bowing at the waist

"The trick-or-treaters should love it," Isaac snorted blandly as he crashed down on the couch next to Derek

"I'm more concerned with the party people but any compliment is a good compliment," Erica smirked back, rising and returning the hat to her head

Derek wasn't quite sure if that was true, but he didn't have time to ask her about it before the sound of her phone going off echoed through the cabin

"Your ringtone for Stiles is 'Season Of The Witch'?" he asked with a slight snort

It had to be for Stiles, Erica had "punny" ringtones for all of them and they only knew one witch

(Stiles, Derek had recently learned, had the same unfortunate taste)

"I'm just surprised she didn't use 'Witch Doctor'," Isaac shrugged back

"Aww I didn't even think of that one," Erica pouted, finally answering the phone- thank God- and allowing Derek to turn his attention back to his book

Or, pretend to anyway, he _may_ have been eavesdropping just a tiny bit

"Hey Stiles! What- .... huh? Oh..." Erica paused, moving the phone away from her ear

"Derek, is your phone working?"

That caught the Alpha by surprise, prompting him to take his phone out of his pocket and attempt to turn it on

"It... no, it isn't.... I must have forgotten to charge it, why? Was he trying to call?"

"Well... sort of, here," the beta wolf answered, taking a few steps closer and handing him the phone

"Stiles?"

_"Derek, you need to run,"_

That.... that wasn't anything like what he was expecting to hear....

"What are you talking abo-"

_"Theo, Theo and his stupid little gang, they're coming NOW, you need to get the pack and go... somewhere else, ANYWHERE else, he knew about me, he PLANNED for me-"_

"Woah woah.... what the hell do you mean he _planned_ for you?! Are you hurt?! What happened!?"

_"I'm fine, I'm fine, just... a little Poison Mandrake poisoning but I'm fine,"_

" _Poison Mandrake!?_ Stiles-!"

_"I'm fine! My dad gave me some Witch Hazel to wake me up earlier, I'm gonna get an antidote made, hopefully get this crap out of my system... I'm FINE, you, on the other hand, are NOT fine, and you need to leave! I've sent a deputy to help you guys, he's got Buffy with him, I can see everything that's going on,"_

"Wait what do you mean you can see-"

_"Nevermind that, LISTEN to me Derek! I don't want to get there later and find you guys passed out and a bunch of bitten birdbrains running amuck! You need to get out of there NOW,"_

"And what, leave you to handle this yourself!?"

_"Yes! In case you haven't realized, they can't GET a werewolf bite out of me! This isn't just about protecting you Derek, this is about not giving them what they want!"_

Derek let out a low, quiet growl, trying to come up with a decent argument against him

He didn't disagree that they needed to do everything possible to prevent these people from being bitten, but he didn't think running away was the answer, and he _knew_ that leaving Stiles to deal with it himself wasn't the answer either, it was just a matter of trying to convince Stiles of that...

Be it fortunate or unfortunate, he didn't have the time to answer, the sound of the door slamming open and shut behind him grabbing his attention as he spun on his heel to stare at Cora

"We've got trouble,"

 

~+~

 

Stiles cursed loudly, nearly throwing his phone as he leaned back against the chair and raked his fingers through his hair

"They're already there... aren't they?" the sheriff asked solemnly

"Yeah... yeah they are," he huffed back, raking his tongue against his teeth and trying to calm himself down, the last thing he needed was to botch this situation even worse by lashing out and causing the healing process to slow down even more

"Just try to stay calm, you'll get there soon enough, how much else do I need to add to this crap anyway?"

"Just a dash of rose hips, that'll be it," Stiles sighed back

From what he could see through Buffy's eyes, Parrish was close, just... not close enough

He was nearing the preserve, but Stiles didn't have any confidence that he would be there before Theo and the others found the cabin...

The last he spoke to Derek they were trying to find a way out of the cabin that wouldn't attract attention, if Theo and the others were already there then they more than likely were surrounded, leaving few options for escape

Ofcourse they couldn't just stay in the cabin like sitting ducks either, and the amount of time they were dealing with to figure out a third option was quickly waning

"They're at the preserve, Parrish just parked the car and they're getting out now,"

Not that tellng his dad would really make that much of a difference, but it felt good to broadcast the information, it felt like he was helping somehow

"Parrish is quick, he should be able to get to them soon," the sheriff said with a quick nod, gently taking his son's hand and fitting it around the mug

"Yeah... but not soon enough, I'll drink this on the way there, we need to leave- NOW,"

"Stiles-"

"Dad I don't have time to debate this, I swear I'll drink all of it- I don't really even have a choice just... please, we need to get there ASAP, PLEASE,"

The sheriff knew there was no point in arguing, so, with a slightly tired sigh, he nodded, realizing a little belatedly that Stiles couldn't see him

"Alright, just... will you atleast do me a favor and take it easy?"

Stiles grinned, taking a long drink from the mug and offering his hand out so that his father could help him up

"Easi _er_ ,"

Well, John supposed, that was alot better than nothing

 

~+~

 

"Are you sure this plan is going to work?"

"Not at all, but it's all we've got,"

Derek was something of a master of "This probably won't work but it's all we've got", he just hoped that luck would be on his side this time around....

"Stiles said that Deputy Parrish would be here soon, we just have to shift, then wait until he gets here, then he'll run ahead of us and act as a distraction wile we make it to the squad car, he can handle the humans and Theo easily enough and we'll... go to a motel or something,"

"That's a HORRIBLE plan," Cora said flatly

Derek frowned, eyes narrowed as he shrugged off his jacket

"Do you have a better one?"

"What about clothes?" Erica asked, hurrying to get her shoes and socks off

"The sheriff keeps a change of clothes in the squad cars in case there's a werewolf in need or... Scott has some kind of wolf related incident, one of us will put those on and drive to Walmart to pick up clothes or something,"

"How will we do that without a wallet?" Isaac asked as he tossed off his shirt

Derek glared, a deadpanned look on his face

Wile it wasn't on the _top_ of their priority list by any means, it was....... admittedly it was an issue

"I'll carry it in my mouth,"

"I don't get it, shouldn't the wards be enough to keep these people out?" Erica frowned

"I wondered the same thing, but Stiles made a good point earlier, if Theo knew about Stiles and _planned_ enough to poison him, then there's no way he didn't plan for Stiles to have put up wards, he wouldn't have come out here without having an idea of how to get past them or get rid of them entirely, that's probably why they waited so long,"

"Wich reminds me, why are they waiting NOW? We're sitting ducks, why don't they just come and get us?" Isaac frowned

"Who knows? Maybe they're taking down the wards, maybe they're finding the perfect spot to launch the Wolfsbane grenades from, maybe they're not all here yet, there are plenty of different answers,"

"How are you going to get Cordelia to come with us?" Boyd asked suddenly, undoing his jeans

"I mean, you can't exactly carry HER in your mouth, even if she IS a Yorkie,"

Cordelia, seemingly offended by that, barked from her place beside Cora

"She'll follow us, she isn't helpless," Derek frowned

"You REALLY think she'll follow us to the squad car? And then just.... get in? You can't even keep her walking on the sidewalk instead of the road when she's on a _leash_ ," Isaac snorted

"Now is NOT the time,"

"It sorta is though, unless you WANT to lose her in the woods forever," Malia pointed out

Derek.....

Derek wanted to just go outside and let the humans have their way with him at this point, surely it wouldn't be half as infuriating as THIS

"Just..... _SHIFT_ ," he growled, a feeling of releif passing through him when he heard a tense, desperate nocking on the door

He hurried to swing it open, never having been more glad to see a cop's face in his life

"Are you guys ready to go?"

Derek gave a nod, listening to the familiar creaks and cricks of his pack changing form behind him and glancing down to see Buffy huddled up in the deputy's arms, desperately trying to get away

"What do you plan to do with her wile you're fighting off Theo and his band of nitwits?"

A look came over Parrish's face in that moment

A look of pure and utter realization

"You didn't plan this far ahead did you?"

"....Not quite,"

Well, that made two irresponsible pet carriers....

"Alright just... give her to me, I'm faster than the betas, I can run at their speed on two-legs," he offered, that would take care of most of their problems honestly...

The deputy nodded, handing over the ferret, but just as he did, a startled yelp caused Derek to jump, flinching as a panicked looking Cordelia shot towards him, and, in his haste to keep the dog from bolting out into the woods, his grip on the ferret _may_ have loosened enough for her to get away and book it up the stairs....

If they weren't trying to keep a low profile, Derek would have started to scream by now

 

~+~

 

"What the hell?"

"What? What's wrong?"

"I don't know what these people are doing but Buffy just ran upstairs... Derek practically dropped her, what even- ...."

"I don't suppose you get audio through that spell huh?" the sheriff asked with a bit of a frown

"Only if I tune in completely to what she's hearing, meaning-"

"You'd go deaf to what's happening around you..."

"Right, and I'm not completely comfortable with losing more than one sense at a time yet," Stiles said with a sigh

Atleast he had finished the potion his father brewed though, his body was pretty well healed now and he could probably take on a single wolf and a bunch of humans without exerting too much energy

"She's going after my staff..." he muttered quietly, cursing in frustration

 _Ofcourse_ she was going after his staff, that's what he had told her to run to...

He felt like such an idiot...

He watched through the ferret's eyes as she finally came upon the large wooden staff, watched her nock it down with her little paws and try valiantly to grab ahold of it somehow, and watched ... watched as she happened to leap up on the windowsill and catch the sight of someone lurking around outside....

Stiles' heart sunk, his fists clenching as he reached into his pocket desperately for his phone

"Dad... how much further away are we?"

"About another five minutes to the preserve, why?"

"Dial Derek for me,"

"Stiles I'm _driving_ , I ca-"

"It's an emergency! Just hit the call back button!"

His father would probably kill him for this later, but if Stiles didn't get Derek's attention soon, the Alpha would face much, much more serious consequences....

 

~+~

 

"Someone out my bedroom window?"

That was... far closer than Derek had anticipated, and he knew immediately that he was going to have to go back to plan A: Fight

He had tried Stiles' idea of running, he had attempted to try it anyway, but it clearly wasn't going to work out

"Thanks, I'll see you soon," he said briskly, hanging up before the witch could argue

He glanced at Parrish, a hard look in his eyes

"Guard the cabin, make sure anyone who comes near it gets burnt to a crisp, I'm going after whoever is stalking around the back,"

"Is that really such a good idea?" the deputy frowned

"No," Derek confessed, his eyes flickering down at the group of wolves (and coyote) who were all waiting impatiently for his next order

"But it's all we've got,"

 

~+~

 

Once the sheriff had parked outside of the preserve, Stiles finally decided to end his vision spell

Buffy was pretty much stationary in Derek's bedroom now and he needed his sight back- his real sight- if he was going to get through the woods

With a few words and a snap of his fingers the spell was gone, and his vision was quickly returning to normal

"Here, I picked these up from the house before we left,"

The witch turned around, surprised to see his father handing him a cloak and a lantern

"So that's what you were getting... why though?"

"Because it's pitch dark out here and for some insane reason you keep that lantern more handy than a flashlight? The cloak was... well, it's cold out, and-"

"Thanks Dad, seriously, but... kinda time sensitive here," he smiled, snapping his fingers to light the lantern and taking off into the woods

"I'll let you have bacon this Sunday as a reward! Promise!" he called over his shoulder, using his magic to force the cloak around his shoulders and tie the ribbon to keep it in place

He could faintly hear his father grumbling in the background before the familiar sound of the police radio starting up took over, no doubt the sheriff calling in armed trespassers to get some back up for them

But he couldn't concentrate on all of that now, his priority was getting to the pack and making sure they were ok

He was so close now he could feel it shaking in his bones and his anxiety was starting to get out of hand, desperate to get to the cabin

His running, ofcourse, could only get him so far

The woods were dense and heavy with trees, he had to be carefull of his footing once he was in the thick of it, so he slowed down to a walk, praying that his slower speed wouldn't end up costing him too much

Luckily he had a pretty good idea of where the cabin was, now that he had been visiting it on and off for two months, and it didn't take too much time to get there

The second it was in sight he picked up speed, snapping his fingers and watching as the door swung open before him

He was a little surprised to see that _everyone_ who had been staying in the cabin had already shifted (sans Derek that is)

He knew some of them had, via Buffy, but all of them? That took him off guard

"Don't worry little pups," he said gently, voice strong and steady as he walked in and stared down at the wolves (and coyote) in front of him

"I promise, all of this will be over soon, now..... where's my staff?" he asked rhetorically, a wave of his hand forcing the door to close behind him as he started up the stairs

They'd probably chew him out later for the patronizing but he just couldn't manage to control himself that time

He followed the same path Buffy had taken up the stairs, a breath of releif exiting his lungs when he finally caught sight of the ferret and the staff

"You are SO getting extra green beans with dinner tommorrow," he said with a relieved sigh, gently plucking Buffy off of the windowsill and grabbing his staff before sliding the window open

He hated heights but.... he wasn't in the mood to waste time taking the stairs again

 

~+~

 

Stiles' timing was nothing short of miraculous

Right as Derek had managed to wrestle away the canister of Wolfsbane gas- wich looked like some demented fire extinguisher- from the human behind the cabin, the emissary came tumbling out of a second story window and landed with surprising grace next to them

His staff, however, inherited absolutely none of that grace, and landed right on the enemy's head, thus nocking him out

"Nice job there Spiderman," the werewolf snorted, reaching out to pick up the staff

"Hey, we're lucky I didn't break anything- on myself or on you- and didn't I give you EXPLICIT instructions to stay out of harm's way?"

"He was going to gas the house! What was I supposed to do? Let him!?" Derek huffed back, thrusting the staff into Stiles' awaiting hands

"There wouldn't have been time to get everyone- including the ferret- out of the house before he did, and, by the way, thanks for the head's up on that little inconvenience,"

"Oh I KNOW you didn't just call my little Buffykins an inconvenience,"

"And I know that you didn't just call your magic-bound pet _Buffykins_ ,"

"Look I'll call her what I want, but we should probably save this argument for another time, I need to get rid of Theo and YOU need to get back inside where it's safe,"

"I'm coming with you, I'm not going to hide like a mouse, Parrish is doing just fine protecting the pack and I'm ready to fight for my territory,"

There was a pause, a breif one, only a beat long, but it was long enough...

"What do you mean 'Parrish is doing just fine protecting the pack'?"

"I mean he's standing guard outside the door..... isn't he?"

"If I had to ask, the answer would be no," Stiles frowned deeply, watching as Derek gave a snarl and started to tug off his shirt

"Woah woah, what are you doing?"

"Getting ready to shift?"

"No!! No you CAN'T do that, what part of _no biting_ are you not getting here? If you turn into a wolf you'll have exactly two ways of defending yourself- scratching and, you know, _biting!_ If you just HAVE to help me then fine but don't put your teeth at risk any more than they already are,"

Derek gave a quiet huffed, frustrated... but understanding and lowering his shirt

"Good... that's good, now, next move, we need to find Theo, we remove the big player in all of this and the rest will fall like dominoes,"

"Great, do you have an actual plan of finding Theo or do we just run around the woods until I catch his scent?"

"Ohhh... I have an idea of my own that I think you'll approve of, after all, the no biting rule only applies to humans," Stiles smirked back

And Derek was... well, he was afraid, but not for himself beautifully enough

He was afraid for Theo

 

~+~

 

Things were quiet

They were far, far too quiet, and had been for a wile now

Theo was starting to get impatient and frustrated wondering why no one had given him the signal yet

Once the cabin had been properly fumigated with Wolfsbane one of the others was supposed to go in and drag Derek out, he would help them from there in terms of prompting the Alpha's bite

He had done everything he could to ensure this went smoothly, right down to luring the deputy into a trap and nocking him out to keep him out of the way

But it seemed as if the saying was true: You just can't find good help these days

Just as he was getting ready to give up and go to the cabin himself, a familiar scent caught his nose and a grin rippled out across his face

So the Alpha wasn't staying with the pack after all... that could explain why no one had given him the signal yet

As quietly as he could, he started towards the scent, carefully avoiding stepping on crunching leaves or twigs or anything else that would give away his position more than his heartbeat and scent already did

In honesty, he was kind of surprised

He would have thought that his presence would be clear enough to any werewolf by now that Derek would have made his own presence announced and come out to fight him

Maybe the Alpha really _was_ just a coward after all, or completely inept

After all, Theo had managed to sneak up on him and get the bite the first time, maybe that hadn't been as much of a lucky break as he had first thought....

Either way, it didn't matter now, the point was that according to Theo's nose, the Alpha was close

Close enough that he could now easily hear his heart beating and breath streaming steadily in and out of his lungs

He was so close now, so close that all Theo had to do was reach out and surely he would have him!

There was just one itty bitty problem with that.... because when he reached out to get ahold of Derek, all he managed to grasp was.... nothing....

"You wanted a bite," he heard, looking up at the tree in front of him and growling in annoyance when he spotted the emissary sitting above him

"You got one,"

Before he could even question that, he felt the seering, burning agony of teeth digging their way into his throat- undeniably _Alpha_ teeth

 

~+~

 

"So, Theo is still alive huh?"

"Yep,"

"... How did he taste?"

Derek glanced down, a displeased look on his face

" _Spoiled_ ," he replied simply, taking what Stiles assumed to be a pointed bite of his doughnut

The witch just snickered, shifting a little on the couch and reaching for his chocolate milk

"Parrish doing ok?"

"He's fine, just getting over a concussion, I have to admit, I'm really amazed that you pulled that off, that... spell or whatever it was that lured Theo in,"

"Yeah? I ... honestly wasn't THAT sure it would work, I mean I've been practicing it for a wile but never really perfected it,"

"I don't think anything is ever perfect," Derek noted with a slight shrug, polishing off the pastry

"Maybe, I could do better," Stiles replied with a vague shrug

"You're always your own worst critic," Derek chuckled back, reaching for his own chocolate milk

"I could say the same to you, nice job in rounding up the humans by the way,"

"I really didn't do much, just pushed them in the direction of the cops,"

"Like herding sheep," Stiles smirked playfully

Derek snorted, rolling his eyes and setting the glass back down

"Regardless, they're Eichen's problem now, I'm still a little surprised that your dad managed to set that up, given the fact that they didn't ACTUALLY do anything illegal,"

"They trespassed on private property, and wouldn't YOU have carted them off to Eichen too if you were a human cop and they started spouting off to you about werewolves and witches and a plot to make people bite them and then kill said people? The deputies were NOT amused when they found all that Wolfsbane,"

"Riiiiight, and I take it you made sure that they confessed all of that somehow?"

"Turns out truth potions are a hell of alot more effective than truth serum, little spritz into their water works wonders,"

Derek glanced down, eyebrows raised as he stared at the emissary leaning against him

"You're terrifying, are you aware of that?"

"And proud of it!"

Ofcourse, it certainly helped that the sheriff and several deputies were aware of the supernatural, it made things like this ALOT easier, and the fact that the rest of the sheriff's department still thought werewolves were a myth?

Well, at times that came in pretty handy too

"You know Theo will just be out trying even harder when he eventually escapes," Derek noted

"But we'll be ready, this time we were a little unprepared, next time will be better," Stiles insisted with a yawn

Derek couldn't blame him, it had been an absolutely exhausting night, and Stiles had had it harder than any of them given the poisoning incident...

"I think it's safe to say we're sufficiently tired," he pointed out with a yawn of his own- because it was infectious and he was too exhausted to try to stop it

"Yeah.... a bed sounds nice right about now," Stiles agreed, grabbing the remote from the coffee table and turning the TV off

Hey Arnold! was almost over anyway...

"You sure you don't mind sharing a room with me?"

Stiles shook his head and rolled off the couch, stretching and trying to resist the urge to rub his eyes

"Dude, I share everything else with you, we practically lay on top of eachother on the couch, I think a bed is fine," he snorted

After getting everything squared away with Theo and Eichen and the cops it had taken all the energy they had just to pick up doughnuts for the pack as treats, by the time they all got back to the cabin it was too late and everyone was too tired to bother moving back to the main house, they'd move back tommorrow, no big deal

But it meant that, given the cabin's limited space, Stiles would have to be sharing a room with Derek

 _"Have to"_ , as if it was some sort of chore

In truth, Stiles looked forward to sharing Derek's bed, if he already slept as well as he did just from snuggling on the couch before bed, he'd imagine actually sleeping together would do wonders for his REM cycle

"Oh wow, look at that, it's raining," the emissary mused, hesitating by the window as Derek gently tried to usher him upstairs

"I'm aware, I can hear it better than you can, remember? There's also going to be thunder soon, it's distant for now but... it'll get closer before the night is over with,"

Stiles nodded slowly, finally starting to make his way up the stairs when a thought occurred to him

"Hey... do all werewolves hate thunder? I mean, Scott does, he didn't used to but he has ever since he was bitten,"

Derek nodded slowly, heading along behind him and gently steering him towards the main bedroom- he apparently had forgotten the way already

"It hurts our ears, and it sounds much louder to us," he explained

Stiles could understand that, he liked thunder but there were times when it spooked even him, he imagined that if werewolves were always hearing it as loudly as he did when it was close by then it was really no wonder why they didn't like it

"Good to know," he nodded, diving into the bed on sight and groaning happily at the warm, comfortable sheets

He was kind of glad that his dad had volunteered to take care of Buffy and Willow for the night, and even Cordelia once Derek mentioned her, it made things a little easier now that they weren't around trying to get accustomed to a new environment

And with the promise of thunder ahead.....

Yeah, he was glad he wouldn't have to deal with that

"Thank you, by the way," Derek said suddenly, causing Stiles to stare up at him in confusion

"For what?"

"For.... agreeing to be my emissary, I never thanked you for that and I should have, you're... I couldn't have handled that without you," he said honestly, sliding into bed next to Stiles carefully, not wanting to get too close and make the witch uncomfortable

"Don't sell yourself short, and you really, really don't need to thank me, I mean if we're going to play the gratitude game then thank YOU for letting me pray in your woods,"

Derek snorted, shaking his head and rolling his eyes

"Yeah, well, you're welcome, I think you've more than made up for it," he said with amusement

"Yeah?" Stiles hummed, moving a little bit closer and cutting the space between them down to nearly nothing

"Then it sounds like this is a mutually beneficial relationship,"

"I wasn't aware that there was ever any doubt in that,"

"There wasn't, it's just ... you know, nice to hear," he mused with a slight shrug

Derek nodded, letting things go quiet for a beat

But unlike usual, when the quiet between them is peacefull and calm, there was a tension this time, something... something that was left in the air

"Derek?"

"Hm?"

"I think this is the part where we kiss,"

The suggestion caught him off guard, but it definitely wasn't something he was opposed to

So, with a shy smile, he leaned up, closing his eyes and taking a breath as Stiles closed the gap between them

The kiss was so soft, so chaste and slow, so unlike everything else concerning them and their relationship, Derek was almost not sure how to handle it

But it deepened, gradually, it grew and evolved, and just as he was really starting to lose himself to it, a clap of thunder boomed outside, causing him to startle and nearly jump out of his skin

"Hey.... relax, I've got you, no big bad thunder is gonna hurt my Alpha puppy tonight, I promise,"

The words were said with amusement but... also a strange sense of warmth and sincerity, a gentleness that promised comfort underneath the teasing

It was odd, but pleasantly so

Just like Stiles

"You just forgot one little thing," Derek noted, smirking at the surprised and confused expression on Stiles' face

"I'm not the only werewolf in this cabin,"

And then, as if on cue, the door to the bedroom burst open and the four other wolves (and one coyote) occupying the cabin at the time raced in and dove straight for the bed

"Oh for God's sake...." Stiles muttered, rolling his eyes dramatically but moving over to give everyone atleast some amount of room anyway

"Don't complain too much, just think of it as practice for if you ever want kids," Derek teased, clearly already used to the thunder-related barge-ins

"Yeah well hopefully our kids aren't going to be bigger than we are right out of the womb..." Stiles muttered, though he obviously wasn't too put off by it, given the way he was already petting Malia's hair and trying to get her and Erica settled in

"Yeah but what about those terrible teenage years?" Derek teased back, earning a groan from the witch

"You sure you still want all of this?" the Alpha asked a moment later, mostly teasing and only partly serious

"Are you kidding?" Stiles snorted

"I wouldn't give it up for the world,"


End file.
